


Love, Break, and Learn

by unus_annus_eilish



Category: Video Blogging RPF, Who Killed Markiplier? (Web Series)
Genre: But ya know it could be any of the couples tagged as well, Cuddling, Ethan and Amy cuddle, F/M, Hurt No Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Mark feels bad after overhearing a conversation, Other, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, it's really however you want to read it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:07:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27474001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unus_annus_eilish/pseuds/unus_annus_eilish
Summary: Ethan's tired after a long day of filming, so him and Amy take a nap on the couch. They have a heart-to-heart when they wake up that Mark was never meant to hear
Relationships: Amy Nelson/Ethan Nestor, Mark Fischbach & Amy Nelson, Mark Fischbach & Ethan Nestor, Mark Fischbach/Amy Nelson, Mark Fischbach/Amy Nelson/Ethan Nestor, Mark Fischbach/Ethan Nestor
Comments: 7
Kudos: 352





	Love, Break, and Learn

**Author's Note:**

> I have a ton of drafts and no motivation to do my schoolwork, so no promises, but you might be getting a ton of fics soon. 
> 
> Title is a line from the first Dodie song that played on shuffle (a great way to name things)

Stumbling out of Mark's office and down the stairs, Ethan groaned. Amy, who was sitting on the couch, lifted her head, face softening when she saw the tired boy.

"Oh," she cooed, "you tired bud?"

Ethan slinked down the last couple stairs and nodded, making eye contact with her when he got to the bottom.

"Come'ere Eth," Amy motioned for the boy to come over to the couch with her.

"Mmh" was all Ethan could reply, shuffling his feet across the cold hardwood floors of the kitchen and living room.

When he made it over to the couch, Amy shifted, and Ethan flopped down next to her.

"Lay your head down," she directed softly, "right here," she said as she patted her chest, "there ya go."

Settling in, Ethan shifted on his stomach, leg wrapped around one of Amy's, head on her chest, and an arm draped lazily over her torso. Amy's head rested at the top of Ethan's scalp as she lightly drew shapes on his back with her finger.

It wasn't uncommon for them to cuddle, but it wasn't an everyday thing. They had been friends for years, watched movies on the couch together multiple times a week, and spent a lot of time in each other's company.

Amy leaned her head in closer to the top of Ethan's and rested. She was tired, too, definitely not as tired as him, but still sleepy.

Yawning, Amy's hand came to a slow stop and dozed off, the moment frozen in time.

•••

Mark didn't come downstairs for another hour, eventually running out of coffee and feeling the effects of a full work day.

What he didn't expect to find, though, was Ethan and Amy absolutely conked out on the living room couch, snuggled into each other.

Mark smiled and giggled to himself, pulling out his phone. Part of him, deep down, knew that if he was a more tactile person, Ethan would do that to him, but in the moment, this was the main focus.

Mark opened up the camera app and flashed a couple pictures, stepping closer and closer but remaining quiet.

Not wanting to wake them, he gave up on his hopes of coffee and went to go take his own nap in the master bedroom.

***

Hours later, both Ethan and Amy started to stir. Arms and legs still tangled, they weren’t as uncomfortably squished as it would seem. “Good Morning sleepyhead,” Amy teased, “how you feelin’?”

“Sleepy,” Ethan answered, before mumbling something inaudible and snuggling back into Amy’s neck and chest.

Amy smiled,, “You shouldn’t go back to sleep bub, you’ll miss dinner.”

Ethan groaned and shifted, “You cooking?” he asked, “cause i’m not.”

Amy giggled, “I’m not doing anything with you laying on top of me,” she sighed, “but I have a feeling nothing is changing anytime soon.”

“Glad we’re in agreement,” Ethan snorted, reply muffled in the couch.

Amy rest her head back on top of Ethan’s and exhaled. “This is the most relaxed I’ve been since,” she paused, “fuck, I don’t even know.”

Ethan hummed, letting her know he was listening to what she had to say.

“I would say it was before Unus Annus, but even then we were busy planning. And before that we were filming and editing Heist, so that’s back up to May.”

Ethan shifted again, but she knew he was still attentive.

“And we were writing, planning, casting, and scouting before that. Half of 2018 was the tour, other half was planning, then A Date and WKM, god, I haven’t gotten a full night’s sleep since, like, 2016.”

At this, Ethan exhaled in appreciation, like it was a joke.

“I know it’s stupid to complain about,” she continued further, “I mean this is more than I ever could have wanted out of my life, but I just wish I could catch a break every once in a while. I think we could all use it.”

From the master bedroom, Mark had overheard the conversation. He didn’t know they felt this way at all. He knew he overworked himself and still felt under accomplished, but to hear two of the hardest working, most complacent people he had ever worked with feel like this was devastating.

He knew he couldn’t bring it up. It was a private conversation he was never meant to hear, and even though the discussion wasn’t top-secret, he would still feel wrong about bringing it up. He would just have to work to make them feel appreciated and supported creatively.

“It’s not just me, right?” Amy asked Ethan.

“Absolutely not,” Ethan sighed and shifted onto his side, “You know, I’ve always wanted to branch out more,” he paused.

Amy shifted onto her side, now assuming the position of big spoon.

“It’s just the security of the relevancy spotlight I guess.”

Amy nodded and intertwined their fingers.

“I know hypothetically that I could do more, there’s barely a doubt in my mind. It’s just that I know if I distance myself from gaming and, well, Mark, I feel like my worth as a content creator is just going to drop tenfold.”

“Oh,” Amy breathed, heart aching for the small boy in her arms.

“Is that what you want?” she asked genuinely, “to distance yourself from Mark?”

Ethan exhaled a conflicted breath. “I don’t-” his voice broke, “I don’t feel like I’ll ever be in the position to give him up even if I wanted to.”

“What do you mean?” Amy asked gently, trying to find a way to coax the anxious energy out of him.

“My relevancy has always been based around Mark,” Ethan spoke softly, voice wavering, “even though I try to deny it, everyone can see it. They all know. I mean, my sub count has more than doubled since Unus Annus started, for Christ’s sake,”

“I just feel like if I try to shake that image from myself, I’m being irresponsible with my career and taking a huge gamble. Who’s to say I won’t try and fail, and then what? I come running back to Mark asking for a job and right back into the palm of his hand, sucked creatively dry for the benefit of others and never myself.”

Mark, still laying in bed, was crying now. He felt bad as the conversation had started, but now realized that while launching Ethan into the stars all those years ago, he forgot to show him how to steer the ship. He had stranded him on an island circled by hungry sharks and stabbed a hole in the life boat. There was no going back. 

He couldn’t dump him, because that’d only hurt them both. He couldn’t stay the same, because clearly Ethan was troubled and hurt by the current position and didn’t even feel safe enough to tell Mark. But on the other hand, he couldn’t help him, because that would only end up making him feel even more helpless.

“I don’t want to hurt him, either,” Ethan sobbed into the pillows. “I know he’s only trying to help, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like that.”

Amy hummed, “how long have you felt like this, Eth?”

“I don’t know,” Ethan breathed out, trying to calm himself down, “I suppose it’s always kinda been there, it’s just bubbled up a bit recently.”

“Let’s talk hypotheticals then, okay?”

Ethan shrugged, though it wasn’t very effective from his laying-down position on the couch, “sure, why not?”

“Alright, we’ll start off easy. Who’d be your dream collaborations if you were to branch out?”

Ethan huffed, “Well I’d like to make some more professional music, I guess. Andrew’s a given in that situation. Maybe Corpse? Or Dodie?”

Amy let out a laugh, “That’s quite the variation.”

Ethan nodded, “Well yeah, that’s the problem.”

“What else?”

“Well ya know, I’ve got one main dream collab.”

“And that is?” Amy prompted.

“This super talented artist,” Ethan smirked, “goes by @iceddarkroast on Twitter.”

Amy sat up and slapped Ethan’s shoulder, “Oh shut the fuck up!”

They both laughed for a while, and then Ethan started to talk again. “You know, I was only half joking.”

“Oh?”

“I’d actually love to work on something together,” he paused, “more than just you behind the camera, I mean.”

“I knew what you meant. I’d be up for it,” Amy smiled, “what were you thinking?”

“I don’t know, how on-camera are you comfortable being?”

“Good words,” Amy teased, causing Ethan to roll his eyes. “I don’t know, I suppose it doesn’t matter.”

“We could do a bunch of random things, like a series!”

“I think you just miss Unus Annus.”

“Well, yeah, but also like,” Ethan stopped, “is it rude to leave Mark out?”

“He can film for us!”

“But isn’t that-”

“I didn’t feel excluded as the creative producer.”

“But you’re almost never the one in charge.”

Amy glared and Ethan and answered sternly, “I’m always in charge.” Ethan just laughed.

“Sure,” Ethan giggled, “You could teach me pottery for a couple weeks as a series!”

“Sounds good to me.”

“And we could cook stuff!”

“As in a competition or collaborative?”

“Who cares?”

“You’ve got a point.”

“We should think about this more later.”

“Agreed.”

“We should probably get up.”

“You’re probably right.”

“What do you want for dinner?” Ethan asked as they peeled their bodies off the couch and detangled themselves from each other.

“Italian? We could order in,” Amy suggested.

Ethan shrugged, “I’m always up for Italian,” he replied, “should we go find Mark and ask him?”

“Go for it.”

Ethan went up stairs and saw that Mark’s office door was open. He searched around upstairs before coming to the conclusion that he wasn’t up there. Ethan went back downstairs and immediately found him asleep on the master bed.

“Amy?” he called after stepping out of the hallway, “should I wake him up or let him sleep?”

“He’s probably been there a while, you can wake him up,” she responded.

“Are you sure?”

“He’s not a baby, he can handle being woken up from a nap.”

Ethan shrugged and nodded, then ran back into the bedroom and jumped on top of Mark. “Wake up sleeping beauty,” he teased loudly.

Mark mumbled something Ethan couldn’t understand into the pillows and pushed Ethan off of him. “Whaddaya doin?” he slurred.

“Wakin’ you up,” Ethan smirked, “princess.”

Mark rolled over on top of Ethan and grabbed his wrists, pinning them above his head. “You listen here, mister.”

Just then, Amy walked into the room, she rolled her eyes at the sight but stayed in the doorframe. “Let’s save the making out for later,” she paused, “Ethan, I believe you were told to ask Mark something?”

“Oh yeah! You want Italian?”

Mark laughed and rolled off of Ethan, landing next to him with an ‘oof’. “Sure, it’s fine with me.”

“Great! Then it’s settled. I’ll order and you two split the bill?” Amy asked.

Mark and Ethan looked at each other, but didn’t dare defy her.

“Buncha simps,” Amy mumbled under her breath as she walked out of the room.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Leave a comment/kudos if you enjoyed.  
> Talk to me on Tumblr: @the-inevitability-of-death  
> Follow me on Twitter: @elle_says_words  
> Peep my Insta: @unus.annus.eilish


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